MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

7/9 Castro to start ASG?

There’s a chance Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro could start in Tuesday’s All-Star Game and it could depend on whether Troy Tulowitzki starts Saturday night for the Rockies.

Jose Reyes, voted as the starting National League shortstop, will not play in Tuesday’s game in Phoenix because he’s on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Tulowitzki and Castro are the backups. Tulowitzki has been bothered by a sore right quadriceps strain, suffered Monday. If he plays Saturday, when the Rockies face the Nationals, he’ll play in the All-Star Game, the Rockies said.

Tulowitzki missed last year’s All-Star Game because of a fractured left wrist. The Rockies want their shortstop healthy for a second half run.

“In Tulo’s case, we’re going to monitor very closely how things go this weekend,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “With that being said, I’d hate to see the guy get grinded on in the All-Star Game. In order to take a run at the division, I know full wel that if we’re without him for an extended period of time, it’s not going to happen.”

This is Castro’s first All-Star Game, and he is the first Cubs shortstop to be named to the team since Shawon Dunston in 1990.

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